178 arrested in a major international operation on credit card cloning

It has been reported by Reuters that 178 people suspected of cloning credit cards have been arrested in a major international police operation initiated by Spanish police.

The scam itself was worth €20 million. In Spain alone, where76 people were arrested, 120,000 stolen credit card numbers and 5,000 cloned cards were discovered and six cloning labs were dismantled.

Police in fourteen countries participated the two-year investigation and there were also major raids in Romania, France, Italy, Germany, Ireland and the United States, with additional arrests in Australia, Sweden, Greece, Finland and Hungary.

According to the police, the detainees are also suspected of armed robbery, blackmail, sexual exploitation and money-laundering.

Hardly the time for the Coalition Government in the UK to be cutting the money it gives to the national Police e-Crime Unit.